Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-02-24
CHAPTER II.
THE LEGEND OF SOLOMON s MI

THE LEGEND OF SOLOMoN'S MINES
'What was it that you heard about my
brothers journey at Bamangwato?" said Sir
Henry, as paused to fill my pipe before an
swering Captain Good.
II heard this,'' 1 answered, ''and have
never mentioned it to a soul till to-day. ]
heard he was starting for Solomon's Mines"
''Solomon's Mines!' calculated both my
hearers at once. 'Where are they"'
II don't know" / said; II know where
they are said to be. L once saw the peaks of
the mountains that border them, but there
was hundred and thirty miles of desert be-
tween me and them, and [ am not aware
that any white man ever got across it save
one. But perhaps the best thing can do is
to tell you the legend of SOlOmon's Mines as
l know it, you passing your word not to re-
veal anything tell you without my permis-
sion. Do you agree to thate l have my rea-
sons for asking it,"
Sir Henry nodded, and Captain Good re-
piled, Certainly, certainly"
"Well," began, ''as you may guess, in a
general way, elephant hunters are a rough
set of men, and don't trouble themselves
with much beyond the facts of life and the
ways of Kafrs. But here and there you
meet man who takes the trouble to collect
| traditions from the natives. and tries to
make out little piece of the history Of this
dark land. 1t was such man as this who
first told me the legend of Solomon's Mines,
now a matter of nearly thirty years ago. 1t
was when was on my first elephant hunt
in the Matabele country. His name was
Evans, and he was killed Aext year, poor
fellow, by wounded buffalo, and lies buried
near the Zambesi Falls. was telling Evans
;obt T of ypn1dorfl11
| workings I had found whilst hunting koo-
doc and Gland in what is now the Lyden-
burg district of the .Transvaal. l see they
have come across these workings again late
| ly in prospecting for gold, but knew of
| them years ago. There is great wide wa
| gon road cut out of solid rock, and leading
| to the mouth of the working or gallery. In
| side the mouth Of this gallery are stacks of
| gold quartz piled up ready for crushing,
which shows that the workers, whoever they
were, must have left in hurry, and about
twenty PAGES in the gallery is built across,
and beautiful bit Of masonry it is
cay said Evans, but will tell you a
uueerer thing than that; and he went on to
tell me how he had found in the far interior
| a ruined city, which he believed to be the
Ophir of the Bible; and, by the way, other
more learned men have said the same long
| since poor Evans time. / was, L remember,
listening open-eared to all these wonders.
| for l was young at the time, and this story of
| an ancient civilization and of the treasure
which those old Jewish or Phenician adj
venturers used to extract from a country
| long since lapsed into the darkest barbarism,
| took a great hold upon my Imagination,
when suddenly he said to me, Lad. did you
ever hear of the Suliman Mountains up to
| the northwest of the Observation-Disclosures coun-
try?''. | told him | never had. ''Ah. WELL"
he said. ''that was where Solomon really
had his mines-llis diamond mines, mean
allow do you know that% l asked.
To be continued.